Anamnesis ©
Chapter Eighteen
By Fiction Writer #13
(nosex , sci-fi, paranormal)

The light bulb over his head flickered off and on with a sizzling sound, barely giving off enough light to see the door.  It was a heavy metal door, much like a hatch you would find on a ship, but he knew he was not at sea.  The door had a thick glass window, a round portal set at eye level, but nothing that lay on the opposite side could be seen, only inky black darkness.  It groaned as if in pain, struggling to remain in its closed and locked position.  Whatever was on the other side wanted to be free, wanted to escape, wanted to join him on the side with the flickering light.

'I've been here before.  I know I have.'

The gray concrete floor felt cool under his bare feet.  Looking down, he could see that he was standing in a small puddle of water, just deep enough to dampen his soles and turn the concrete a darker shade.  He followed the slowly spreading wetness to find its source, and wasn't surprised when the feeble light from above glinted off a tiny rivulet of water as it leaked from the bottom of the door.

'I'm supposed to be looking for something, but what?'

He was nude, completely bare and exposed.  He was used to being nude at home, but for some reason this didn't feel right to him here.  He'd woken up in this place without clothing, so there must have been a reason for it, but he couldn't remember why or what that reason was.  Only that feeling… that odd feeling that it was somehow wrong to be without his clothes kept gnawing at him.

'The girl... she's here.  She's the reason why I'm here.'

Above him a series of pipes ran parallel to each other along the ceiling, held in place by metal straps.  Though the paint on them was faded, chipped and peeling, he could still see that they had once been painted with different colors to make identifying them easier.  His eyes followed them as they stretched away into the distance, running the length of a corridor that was lined with more steel doors on either side.  The corridor was so long that he couldn't see where it ended, or even if it did end, but at least there were more lights, a small comfort that he wouldn't be plunged into complete darkness if the one above his head gave out.

'She's not just a girl... She's... she's my... my sister.'

The door behind him gave a shudder, moaning mournfully as it held back the darkness.  Dust and tiny particles of concrete fell from the ceiling, settling in his hair and bare shoulders.  He shook off the heavier bits and brushed the lighter bits and dust off with his hand.

'She's my sister... and... and I love her.'

A quiet squealing noise drew his attention to the round window.  A spidery silver line had appeared on the glass.  With every blink of the light bulb, more and more thin silver lines branched out, like a lightning bolt forming in slow motion.

'Not like a brother should... No... It's more than that.'

Beads of water formed along each of the pencil thin lines, some growing large enough to streak downward over the glass surface.  The ground under his feet vibrated and more dust fell from above.

'I love her... I really love her.'

There was a hissing sound, and a fine ice-cold mist sprayed out from the seal around the portal.  The shock of the cold water against his face caused him to step away from the door.

"Robbie!  Robbie, where are you?"

The sound of her voice made his heart race.  He spun away from the groaning and squeaking door to peer down the hallway in search of the one he loved above all others.

"I'm here!  I'm over here!" he called out as loud as he could, and waited for her to respond.  When he didn't hear her answer he decided to leave the hatch and head down the corridor.  She was out there somewhere, and he just had to find her.

"I'm coming!  Don't worry; I'm coming to find you!"

He'd only moved a dozen steps when she finally answered.

"Hurry, Robbie!  Don't leave me here!  You promised not to leave me here!"

Her words cut through his heart worse than a knife ever could.  He had promised her.  Though he couldn't remember when or why, he was sure that he had made that promise.  He had to find her.

"Stay where you are!  I'm coming!  I'm coming to save you!"

He was really moving now.  His feet slapped on the concrete so hard it sent shockwaves of pain rippling up his legs, but he continued on, faster and faster, until the doors he passed were nothing but a blur.  The pain he felt seemed worth it when he finally caught sight of his younger sister, her blonde hair almost glowing under the lights, and her blue eyes visible even at this extreme distance.

"You have to remember!  Remember, Robbie!  Remember me!"

No matter how fast he ran, he felt he wasn't getting any closer to her.

"I'm trying!  I'm trying to remember!"

His heart nearly broke as she held her arms out to him, inviting him to embrace her, to hold her tight and keep her safe.  It was all he wanted to do, but it was not to be.  The rules of the dream couldn't be broken, and when the realization that what he was experiencing was in fact a dream, the pain in his heart grew tenfold.  He knew what was coming next, what had happened dozens of times before, and he knew there was no escaping it.

"Please!  Please don't leave me here!  You have to remember!"

Her pleas were joined by tears that ran down her soft pink cheeks, and on cue, the heavy steel door behind him gave up its fight to hold back the water.

A great rush of air caught up to him from behind and nearly buoyed him off the ground.  The roar of the approaching torrent became deafening in the confined corridor, but this time Rob didn't look back.  This time he refused to take his eyes off of his sister as the wall of icy death chased after him.

"I love you!" he called out to her. "I love you, Sarah!"

Her name barely made it past his lips before the stabbing pain of sub-zero water slammed into him from behind, but despite the roaring maelstrom he was sure she'd heard him.  She'd smiled; smiled so brightly that the chill of the water could not dull the warmth that spread from his heart.

She'd heard him.

Rob awoke drenched in sweat and his heart racing.  The details of this last dream were so vivid, so detailed... he had to record them before they faded from his memory.  He rolled quickly to his right in search of his bedside table, the place where he kept his dream filled notebook, but was shocked when he could find neither.

'What the?' Fear filled him as he looked around the strange bedroom. 'Where am I?'

Slowly his memory returned to him. 'Oh, yeah... right.  I'm not at home anymore.'

He sat up in the hotel bed and shook off the heavy covers.  He was still fully dressed, but his shoes lay on the floor by the bed next to his backpack.  The bathroom door was opened a crack, just enough to allow the bright light to spill out from the other side.  The shower was running and wisps of hot steam wafted into view once in a while.  On the other side of the door he could barely make out Kayleigh softly singing some song he didn't recognize.

Hearing her voice brought back the moments leading up to his present situation.

They arrived through the back entrance of the hotel because Kayleigh said it was just easier to do.  She explained that, as a disk jockey, she'd gotten many interviews from reclusive rockers just by hanging out near the backdoors of places.  Now she was hooked on the simplicity of skipping past check-ins and hostesses.  She'd made arrangements at the Plaza well in advance just so she could sneak in through the back.  She even went as far as to check in under a different name, a special perk allowed to her because she was friends with the hotel's concierge, a young man who appreciated the free concert tickets she'd sent his way for VIP guests.  It always made her feel more special to do things this way.  She liked to pretend that she was famous when she was away from home, just as famous as those rock stars she interviewed.

As they entered the elevator in the parking garage it dawned on both of them that Rob didn't have a room of his own.  Kayleigh offered to share her room with him for the weekend, but Rob didn't feel right about it.  But she insisted, dragging him by his backpack into her room while arguing that she didn't want to spend her birthday alone, especially after her recent breakup.  She said she didn't trust herself alone, and could really use a friend.  She sweetened the deal by handing Rob a free pass to the convention, another detail he'd completely overlooked.

Reluctantly, and feeling a bit like he was using her, he agreed to stay.  It was at some point after she'd told him to get comfortable while she made a few calls on the room's phone that he fell asleep on the bed.  He couldn't recall getting under the covers, nor taking off his shoes, so she must have done both.  The thought of her doing these things for him while he slept made him smile.  It was almost as if she were his mom.  Not the mom he'd left behind last night, the violent psycho, but the mom who cared for him, the tender gentle woman who would kiss his cheek before tucking him into bed at night.  He missed her, and wished she wasn't like she was now.

So now he found himself propped up in bed, a warm smile still on his face after his pleasant nap, getting his first good look around the nice but not extravagant room.  The curtains were pulled half shut, but he could see that the sun was still shining brightly.  A quick glance at a digital alarm clock told him that it was nearly five-thirty pm.  Kayleigh told him that the convention didn't officially kick off until seven, but the opening ceremony was boring as hell so she was going to skip it.  Rob agreed.

The television was on, but the sound was turned all the way down.  The opening credits of the local news began to flash on the screen: Channel Seven, Action News, the most watched news program in the Highland metro area and beyond.  A short investigation of the contents lay out on the bedside table proved fruitful, and as he leaned back against the headboard, sipping a bottle of water, his thumb pressed the volume button on the remote.

"Our top story tonight remains as it's been all day.  Without prior notice or the slightest of hints of planning, the longtime dictatorship of North Korea appears to have opened its eyes to the promises of freedom and democracy."

Black and white film footage of the long running war between North and South Korea spliced with full color graphics of their flags waving across the screen gave way to a distinguished looking gentleman in a gray suit that matched his silver hair.

"Good evening and thank you for joining us.  I'm Charles Goodwin."

Rob flipped the channel to the next station, this one airing a Hollywood tabloid show.

"Oops!  She did it again!" the perky blonde woman chirped as a grainy green and black video played in the background.  Very little could be discerned from the video, since most of it had been pixilated by censors. "Former teen pop idol Britney Spears is once again the center of controversy.  This time it's over the unexpected release of an explicit sex tape starring herself and ex-bo Justin Timberlake.  Britney is remaining mum on the tape's authenticity, but to our eye it's most definitely her.  The tape is already burning up the internet, but as of yet no one has claimed responsibility for its release."

Once again Rob flipped the channel.  This time he paused briefly, just long enough to register the seven-day weather forecast of continued heat and humidity, with it's glowing sun graphics and a cartoon image of a man melting despite a fan blowing on him, before moving on.  The next few channels were commercials, which he skipped by without a thought.  He was about to shut the television off when something interesting caught his eye.

It was a high school soccer match, filmed on a shaky video camera by someone who obviously had grown bored with the game.  The camera panned lazily back and forth across a field covered with patches of dry brown grass rather than following the action, which was now exclusively at one end of the field as a young blonde boy attempted to make a penalty kick.  Very few fans lined the sidelines, and even those few seemed uninterested.  Blurry white text on the bottom right of the screen gave the date of the match: 05/23/06.

Rob couldn't make out the player's face, but something about his sandy colored hair seemed very familiar.  After a pause, the ref blew a whistle and the tanned boy with the blue and gold number four jersey charged forward.  His foot connected with the black and white ball, sending it flying high and curving around the defending team in green and white, who stood in a line blocking the clearest path to the goal.  The goalie made a desperate dive, but was too slow, and the ball sailed past his fingertips.  The loud cheers of the small crowd must have awakened the cameraman because the image suddenly swung wildly left and right before finally settling on the kid who had just scored.

"He did it!  He did it!  Highland Heights beats Lakeshore!"

The camera began a slow zoom, closer and closer until only number four could be seen on the screen.  But it was an old camera, and the auto-focus struggled to find the correct depth.

"In a stunning defeat, the underdog team has overcome the defending champions!  Coach Grant has won the first Division Championship in Highland Heights history!  All thanks to the brilliant play of the team's youngest member..."

The picture finally came into focus and Rob's jaw dropped to the floor.

"... the only Freshman on the Varsity team, Robert Davis!"

Rob watched in a stunned daze as his doppelganger jumped up and down with his arms raised over his head in celebration, before the rest of the winning team converged around him.  They were so excited that instead of hoisting the young man into the air, they fell on him, tackling him to the ground and causing the announcer to laugh joyously.  The screen faded to black and began to fill with white text:

Channel 23, cable public access for the Highland Metro Area, is honored to present this rebroadcast of the 2005-2006 regional High School soccer season championship.  At the time of this recording, no one could have known that this would be the final game that Robert Davis would ever play.  On July 7th 2006, two months after his championship winning goal, Robert and his family lost their lives in a deadly gas explosion.

Sarah Elizabeth Davis 10
Robert Michael Davis 15
Stephanie Laurel Davis 17
Helena Mildred Davis 37
Stanley Fitzgerald Davis 38

Channel 23 joins the Highland community in mourning the tragic loss of the Davis family, and in tribute presents the first game of the 2006-2007 soccer season in its entirety.

Rob managed to read the words on the screen a full three times before the black background faded away to reveal the same field as before, only this time the stands were packed with people, all of them wearing some combination of blue and gold.  The quality of the audio and video were light-years ahead of the previous film.  Even the field on which the teams would be playing had received an upgrade.  The brown grass and dirt patches were gone, replaced with a vivid green carpet.  A great cheer rang out through the gathered crowd as the home team poured out onto the field, each and every one wearing a number four jersey with 'Davis' clearly displayed on their backs.

"Wakey wakey, sleepyhead!"

Kayleigh's chipper voice shocked Rob out of his zombie-like state.  She strolled out of the bathroom wearing a large fluffy white towel while running a brush through her still wet hair.  Rob panicked and fumbled with the remote until he found the power button for the TV.

Kayleigh stopped in her tracks as the TV popped off, and turned to stare at Rob with a bemused expression.

"Okay, what's up?"

"Nothing," Rob lied.

"What, did you find the adult channel?" She smirked. "It's okay, I have four older brothers.  Believe me, I know all about teen boys and the allure of free pornography."

"No..." Rob stuttered, trying to find a way out of the situation he'd gotten himself into, but only digging himself deeper with his silence.

"Oh!" Kayleigh smiled and blushed as she turned away to dig through one of her bags. "Oh, you naughty boy!  Did you peep at me while I was in the shower?"

"What?" Now Rob blushed, and denied the accusation a little too harshly. "No!  No way!"

Kayleigh gave an over-exaggerated gasp as she stood and turned to face him, mock anger written all over her face.

"Well, why the hell not?  I work damn hard to make my ass look this good." She playfully slapped her own towel-covered rear and giggled. "Someone should appreciate it!"

Rob struggled to find something to say, some way to break free without telling her what he'd just seen on the television.  Luckily she did all the work for him.

"Shower's all yours." She bit her lower lip as Rob practically leapt for the open escape route, but she got one last zinger in before the door fully closed. "Perv!"

"Perimeter is secured." 22442 rattled off his report while following closely behind Black Wolf as they climbed into the rear of a black nondescript semi truck parked in an alley behind the Plaza Hotel. "We have snipers in position in buildings at each intersection and a team in place in the service tunnels.  Plain-clothes operatives are already blending in with the normal pedestrian traffic surrounding the hotel."

"Very good." Black Wolf typed his access code into the door hidden behind two large crates. "What about inside?"

22442 was ready with his answer before his superior asked. "Three teams are inside, all plain-clothes.  Team A is attending the various functions being held within the convention.  Team B has spread themselves throughout the forty-three floors of the hotel, including the restaurant, the bar, the pool and gym.  Team C ops have integrated themselves into various hotel staff positions without raising suspicion.  All assault teams are on standby awaiting orders."

"Any luck verifying which room the target's staying in?"

The security door slid soundlessly away revealing a wealth of cutting edge technology and specially trained technicians tirelessly manning the Mobile Command Center.

"No Sir.  CCTV video confirmed what the secretary and the High School janitor told us.  The boy did leave with her.  We tracked them up until the final block where they turned down a side street and out of the CCTV network.  The hotel's security video isn't very good, but we were able to discern a figure vaguely matching the description of our target.  He and the woman entered the parking garage together, around the approximate time it would take to get to the hotel from where we lost them on CCTV.  We believe they entered through a rear entrance, bypassed the check-in, and headed straight to their room via a service elevator.  She must have booked in advance under an assumed name, but we haven't been able to match her credit information to any of the booked rooms."

Black Wolf made his way through the slightly cramped space to find an area set aside for his use.  22442 continued to follow, just in case Black Wolf had more questions.

'Something's up with him,' 22442 thought to himself as he waited patiently for Black Wolf to take a seat. 'He's distracted; like he's already moved on to some other objective.  First Gens are weak.  They lack the drive the rest of us Second and Third Gens possess.  Why are they still in charge?  What can the Council possibly see in them?'

"The teams are aware of the updated directives?"

"Yes Sir." 22442 stepped aside to allow one of the technicians by. "Kill on sight order has been modified to covert kill/capture."

"Too many damn civilians walking about," Black Wolf read through the print out he'd just been handed, "Can't have a big mess on our hands.  This has to be clean... quick.  No witnesses."

"Yes Sir." 22442 couldn't contain himself any longer, he had to know. "Sir, May I ask why the order was altered?  It's really going to tie our hands if we come up against another threat like the girl."

Black Wolf's failure to answer immediately caused 22442 great anxiety, but he didn't show it.  It was wrong for him to ask questions of a superior officer, no matter what he felt about him personally.  By all rights Black Wolf could draw his weapon and put a metal slug deep into 22442's brain.  But the question needed to be asked.  The whole day had been nothing but one FUBAR after another.  The men were restless, unnerved by the continued failures of Black Wolf's leadership.  It was out of line, but needed to be done.  Even if 22442's life was snuffed out, the question would still be rattling around in Black Wolf's head, and maybe its presence would prevent future fuck-ups.

22442 stiffened when Black Wolf finally peered over his paperwork to stare at him, his eyes glaring.

"There have been... other developments," Black Wolf rumbled, but made no move to draw his weapon. "The team sent to remove Lone Wolf has failed, and he now possesses the Ixshebetan artifact.  Our operative on his team has gone silent.  Even Aurora has gone silent.  We have no idea where any of them are, or their current status."

"But Sir," 22442 pushed his luck, "what does that have to do with our current mission?"

"The Council has changed their mind about the boy; he is no longer considered a primary target.  We were ordered to stand down." Black Wolf's eyes descended back to his paperwork. "I requested that our pursuit continue until we achieved our goal.  The Council has given us till eleven o'clock, after that... we wash our hands of the operation."

"Why has the Council changed its mind?"

"I do not question the Council's motives, and neither should you.  You're dismissed."

When 22442 didn't make a move to exit, Black Wolf set his papers aside. "Is there something else?  Or do you need an invitation to rejoin the others?"

"Sir, my apologies," Now 22442 did break a sweat, though it was only detectable to him, "But why are we still pursuing the boy if the Council doesn't want him anymore?"

"That's simple." Black Wolf smiled slyly. "He's bait."

Black Wolf spun his seat away from the nervous soldier to examine a monitor displaying all calls made to Kayleigh Roberts' cell phone.  All she needed to do was answer one call, just one, and he'd have her location pinpointed.

"Lone Wolf went to a lot of trouble to hide that kid away; I doubt he'll be too happy when he finds out that I've got him."

The shower did more than wash away a day's worth of sweat and grime; it washed away the disorientation of waking up after a long nap as well.  It gave his mind a chance to reconfigure its built in clock.

No... It wasn't morning.  No... It wasn't the start of a new day.

This was the same day as he'd set off from his home.  The same day he learned of his alternate past.  The same day he'd gone his separate way from Stephanie and her confused boyfriend.  The same day he learned that magic was real, and called The Art by those in the know.  It was also the same day he learned of an organization called Phoenix, which may or may not be responsible for his current predicament.

The water refreshed him, cleansed him of the aches and pains he'd gained the evening prior at the hands of his mother.  He thought of her as the shower drummed a rapid beat against his bare shoulders.  She'd left Stephanie a note, an apology for her abusive behavior.  Perhaps she'd left him one as well.  He hoped so.  He didn't want to hate her.  What she'd done was terrible, but she was still his mother, and the good times between them far outweighed the bad.  If she had a reason, a good reason for the horrible things she'd done, then maybe he could forgive her.

The falling water suddenly went from lukewarm to cold and sent Robbie jumping for the back of the stall to avoid its chill.  Even with his back pressed against the acrylic wall, the icy spray still pelted his toes.  Taking a deep breath to brace himself against what he knew needed to be done, he lunged through the falling water and quickly twisted both faucets to cut off the flow.

Shaking off a sudden bout of shivers, he stepped free of the shower stall and pulled the remaining fluffy white towel off the rack and went to work drying himself.  He took special care around his knees which had turned a nasty shade of purple brown, yet another reminder of his mother's brutality.  She had caused so much pain, and yet, if she hadn't, wouldn't he still be with her?  She pushed him, gave him the motivation he needed to get going.  She was the fire that drove him onward.

Robbie moved the towel vigorously through his hair, forgetting the gash hidden within his hairline caused by his collapse on the basement floor.  The sudden flash of blinding pain was gone in an instant, but reminded him what transpired when he received the wound.

'Pain,' he thought to himself as he checked the towel for any signs of fresh blood. 'Pain helps me to remember.  Something about it... blocks whatever they did to me.  Let me see.  See what I've forgotten.  Maybe Mom knew that.'

Finding the towel devoid of any red streaks, he wrapped it tightly around his waist.  He was a bit pissed at himself for forgetting to bring his backpack in the bathroom with him, but what was done was done. Maybe Kayleigh had forgotten the little misunderstanding, or moved on to some other amusement that didn't involve causing him to change several shades of red.

Confident that the towel wouldn't fall the instant he joined Kayleigh in the other room, he shut off the lights and opened the door at the same time.  This time it was Kayleigh who jumped, fumbled with the remote until the TV switched off, and looked like a cat who ate the canary.  Rob noticed she hadn't gotten dressed.  She sat on the edge of the bed still wrapped in her own fluffy towel, her lack of makeup evidenced by the presence of freckles dotting the bridge of her nose and the tops of her cheeks.  Her green eyes locked on him, and her lips moved as if she were trying to speak but words wouldn't come.

Rob strode across the room to where his backpack lay, careful not to return her gaze, but unable resist taunting her as she did him. "So who's the perv now?"

"Robbie... I..." She spoke with a quavering voice, one that seemed out of place with all Rob knew of her. "We need to talk."

Rob didn't like the sound of that. "What about?  Did you change your mind about me staying here?  Cause that's okay if you did, really, it's no problem.  I'll just..."

"No," she cut him off, "it's not that."

Rob continued digging in his bag for a pair of socks. "I didn't peep at you."

"I know.  It's..." Kayleigh sighed as she popped the TV back on. "Can you... can you explain this?"

Rob gritted his teeth and cursed himself for not switching the channel before shutting it off.  He knew before turning to look what she was asking about.  His eyes fell on the screen, and the image confirmed it.  There he was, well, a still picture of him anyway, smiling broadly as an announcer recounted highlights of a life he couldn't remember.

"Please tell me I'm not losing my mind." Kayleigh's eyes misted up. "Please... please tell me I'm not... not crazy."

Rob was speechless.  Of every reaction he'd imagined her having as he spun away from his backpack to look at her, this wasn't even close.

"Is that... that's you, isn't it?" Tears welled up and spilled down her dotted cheeks. "Please tell me I'm not imagining this."

That sense of profound loss Rob had sensed within Kayleigh rushed back into him again.  It choked his throat, cut off his ability to answer her, to comfort her.  The room felt as if it were spinning out of control, tipping this way and that, ready to plunge down a great chasm at any moment.  Kayleigh's muffled sobs blended with his rapidly beating heart.  A melody drifted in and out of his thoughts, twisting and turning.  Sometimes he thought he could make sense of it, but before he could grasp the meaning it would slip away again, replaced by pounding pain.  Still she sobbed, her tears trickling like glittering diamonds from those emerald eyes.

"Please... say something!" she begged. "I need to know, am I crazy?  Have I made you up like... like they say I made her up?"

And there it was.  It stung like a slap across the face, but centered his out of control thoughts.

'they say I made her up'

Those six little words cut through the cacophony of noise.  They brought him out of the darkness and into the light.  Kayleigh was still crying, still begging him to answer, but the words that slipped through his lips were not his own, and he sang them softly, just as he heard them within his mind.

"Is just like a dream to me..."

Just snippets at first, as if he were only catching parts of the melody as they drifted in the wind.

"Melt all my heart away... with a smile..."

He sang haltingly, each line hanging with silence afterwards.

"There'll always be sunshine when I look at you..."

More and more came to him.

"Everyday... love me your own special way..."

The song filled him with an elation he knew was not his own.

"Melt all my heart away... with a smile..."

Kayleigh's tears came faster now, as her face flushed with shock.

"Take time to tell me... you really care..."

And together, they sang one final line as one...

"And we'll share tomorrow... together."

As the last note trailed off, Kayleigh's sobbing mixed with giddy laughter.

"How?" She embarrassingly wiped her runny nose with the back of her hand. "How did you?"

"It... it just came to me." Rob felt even more confused than when he'd first started to sing.

"That song," Kayleigh smiled behind her red eyes and tear drenched face, "That song is... is very personal to me.  I kissed the only person I've ever truly loved, while dancing to that song."

Kayleigh closed her eyes, swimming in the memory of that kiss, holding her arms around herself as if she were hugging her one true love once again.

"I'm... I'm losing my mind... aren't I?  There's no other explanation for it.  There's no way you could know about that song." Kayleigh continued smiling blissfully despite the ache she felt inside. "This isn't happening, not really.  My mind has finally snapped.  All those doctors and shrinks were right.  My dreams never really happened; I made it all up to cope with my feelings of regret and shame.  And now it's finally happened... I'm seeing and hearing things that aren't there, even when I'm awake."

Kayleigh's eyes slowly fluttered open and landed on Rob. "You're not real.  I've created you to help me deal with how shitty my life is right now.  Who better than a friendly ghost?"

Kayleigh giggled to herself, but there was no joy in it.  It was an empty sound, one filled with feelings of surrender.

Rob felt the pit of his stomach drop with each titter she made.  He had to do something; he couldn't let her believe she was going insane.  So he did the only thing he could do, he started talking.  He started to tell her everything, everything that had happened to him.  He didn't lie, or glaze over the truth... he told her everything... every last detail.

Kayleigh's skin tone changed several times throughout the course of Rob's story.  Bright pink during his explanations of regular family life back in Miflin, of the nudity, the sex.  She went white as a sheet when he told her about the Jeckel and Hyde nature of his mother, a bit green during his description of his sister's last evening alone with his parents.  But through it all, she remained silent, taking in every detail as he conveyed them.  It wasn't until after he explained his reaction to seeing the soccer game that she finally spoke.

"I... I believe you."

"Really?" He couldn't imagine how he would react in her place; his story was so crazy that he sometimes didn't believe it himself. "You do?"

She nodded slowly. "I knew it was you on the other end of that phone.  I knew it as soon as I saw you at the station.  I swear I saw you when I answered it."

Rob grinned. "I'm pretty sure I saw you, too."

"I believe there's a reason we were brought together.  Some bigger plan is at work." Kay unconsciously touched the little gold cross that still hung around her neck. "The parts... the parts where you talked about being in some laboratory, and were being forced to do things, things with your little sister; I think that happened to me, too."

Rob's heart skipped a beat at this. "What, with your brothers?"

She shook her head. "No, not with them; with my best friend, the girl I kissed while listening to that song."

"They made you kiss?"

"No.  No!" Kay laughed softly. "The kiss we did on our own.  This was something else.

"I have... these dreams.  I can't really explain them, it's all fuzzy and mixed up, but I... I remember being with her... making love to her... and... there is this voice, a commanding female voice that's telling me what to do.  It... it seems so real, you know, like it's a memory, not just a dream like they keep telling me it is."

"Who keeps telling you?"

"Oh, doctors." She rolled her eyes. "I've been going to one shrink or another since just out of High School.  I was hit by a car and knocked unconscious, ever since then I've been having those dreams.  I used to wake up at night bawling my eyes out because of them.  My parents thought the doctors would be able to help me.  Secretly, I've always suspected that they thought my being a lesbian was a result of that accident, and if they cured me of one they'd cure the other.  Truth is, I've always liked girls, long before that accident and those dreams."

Kayleigh suddenly jumped to her feet. "Okay, Robert Davis, get your ass dressed.  We have an appointment to keep."

"What?" Rob still held his socks in his hands. "I thought we were skipping the opening ceremony."

"We are." Kayleigh hefted her unpacked suitcase onto the bed and began pulling clothes out. "There's someone here I think you should meet.  I was going to go alone, but she's going to want to talk to you."

"Who?"

"Dr. Sheila Lowery."

"Who?"

"She is, was, a psychologist.  We used to date, a long time ago." Kay smiled as she slipped a pair of lacy black panties up her legs and under her towel. "The official story is that last year she became obsessed with one of her patients, a little girl who Sheila supposedly believed was possessed by the devil or some shit.  When she got out of hand, they took her license away.  Now, I've known Sheila for a long time, and believe me, she's no religious nut.  Something happened, something that made a rational, well adjusted, well educated doctor suddenly believe in monsters."

Kayleigh paused to shimmy into a black skirt, the towel rising higher and higher but revealing nothing as the skirt took its place.

"Her side of the story is that she tried to have a child removed from a foster family because she believed there was sexual abuse taking place, but no one would listen.  The harder she pushed, the harder they pushed back, and then she began getting death threats.  The police did nothing; in fact she says she received threats from them as well."

She worked her arms through the straps of a matching black lace bra, turning away at the last moment to lower the top of the towel and cover her breasts within its cups.

"Things get a little hazy after that, and she doesn't talk about what really happened.  All anyone really knows is that the Board stripped her of her license to practice psychology, her home was foreclosed on, her Mercedes repossessed, and her bank account went poof!"

Kayleigh picked up a white blouse and slipped the towel off, still standing with her back turned to Rob.

"The truth is in there somewhere, probably a combination of the two sides, but I can tell you this... Sheila did see something.  Whether it was a little girl possessed by the Devil, or something else, I don't know.  For the past ten months she's been coming to conventions like this one, scanning blogs on the internet, and reading stolen medical files that a hacker friend of hers managed to get, all to find people with one thing in common."

"What?" Rob asked as she buttoned up her blouse.

Kay turned around and frowned at him. "Aren't you going to get dressed?"

"Oh, shit," Rob muttered to himself as he emptied his backpack on the floor to search for something on par with what she was wearing.  As he awkwardly pulled his clothes on, Kay continued.

"She believes that something is going on here in Highland, something sinister."

"What?" Rob hopped on one foot trying to pull on a sock, "UFO abductions?"

"No, nothing like that.   She thinks it's more of a conspiracy than anything out of this world.  She can't prove it, but she thinks the government, or some other shady organization, is conducting mind control experiments on the populace.  Making people see things that aren't there, do things they normally wouldn't do, erasing and implanting false memories.  Just like what happened to you, and maybe, what happened to me."

Kayleigh moved into the bathroom but kept the door open as she applied her make-up.

"This Phoenix group you spoke of, I've heard of them before, but from some quack who thinks they have something to do with alien-human hybrids.  Sheila dismissed them as just another made up bogeyman to sell books, but after what that Nick guy told you, I think she might want to look into them again."

With Kay in the bathroom and out of eyeshot, Rob dropped his towel and quickly pulled on his boxers, followed by tan dress slacks he didn't even know he owned. "So, does this Sheila think they did something to her?  Made her see things that weren't there?"

"Uh-huh.  She blames them for everything that's happened to her, said they made her lose her mind.  She said she thought monsters were after her, that demons and Satan worshippers were trying to stop her from saving that little girl.  She believes that the police and government are in on the whole thing, and will stop at nothing to keep the truth quiet."

Kay finished with make-up and moved on to her hair, leaning out the door to check on Rob's progress as she fought to run a brush through her thick hair.

"I don't know about all that, but she's working really hard to find a way to restore lost memories.  Trust me, Rob; those guys down in the convention won't be able to help you.  I've been there, done that.  If anyone's going to get to the bottom of what's going on, it's Sheila.  She doesn't quit, even if it means trying unorthodox methods.  I've been coming to her sessions since the first one, and the group gets bigger every time.  We're getting close to a breakthrough, I know it, and something tells me you might be the piece we've all been missing."

"Where are they meeting?"

"Right here in the hotel.  She was bumped out of her reserved space by the convention, but the hotel is letting her use the new offices on the forty-second floor since they're not finished yet."

"Do you always meet here?"

"No, Sheila likes to move around.  We meet like once or twice a month, always somewhere in the city, but she switches up the location.  Personally I think she's still a bit paranoid.  We've met here before, but not on the forty-second floor.  It's just dumb luck that we're meeting on the same day as the convention, makes my life a little easier though, since I wanted to attend both." Kayleigh stepped out of the bathroom looking like she'd just come from a professional stylist. "You ready?"

Rob nodded and smiled as he finished with the last button on his crisp white dress shirt.  The pair of them exited the room together, neither noticing two particular items.

The first, a letter clearly addressed to him in the scrawling handwriting of his mother, neatly folded and tucked just out of sight within the back pocket of the pants he was now wearing.

The second was Kayleigh's cell phone, which had been switched off and left plugged into its charger on the bedside table.  Had she bothered to check it before leaving, she would have received twenty voice mail messages, and well over thirty text messages, all from Marla, and all containing frantic warnings that some strange men had come to the station and were looking for her and the kid she was with.

(Lyrics to "Always and Forever" written by Rod Temperton)